


Decent

by ExplosionOfRationality



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 11:59:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5706907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExplosionOfRationality/pseuds/ExplosionOfRationality
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing wrong with looking (unless you get caught).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Decent

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally a piece of trash. I'm just uploading it because it's been on my phone for weeks and I want to get rid of it. Expect to be let down.

"Don't you have any decency?"

The question comes as such a surprise--because the answer should be obvious, especially to his own brother--that it gets a laugh out of Merle. Decency at the end of the world. When is Daryl going to learn? Not like he's a rapist or anything, besides. He was just having a look. Or trying to; the women changing was at an angle that it made it hard to see any of the real juicy bits. 

"I ain't hurtin' nothin'. Just checking out the goods. Relax, baby brother."

Daryl rolls his eyes in a way that makes Merle want to slap the tar out of him. But he doesn't, because these days he doesn't have the fire in him to start out an all out brawl (because that's what Dixons do) with his own kin. Maybe Officer Friendly, if he shakes his head at him too hard. But not Daryl (if it can be avoided, anyway). So he scoffs instead, a noise that sounds forced considering how damn tired he really is. He thinks Daryl knows it, too, that he can see it in his eyes, and that pulls all kinds of nerves. Even his own brother is seeing him as weak now. 

"Come on, man. We've got a supply run to go on."

Merle doesn't say anything other than a 'right'. If Daryl can see how disturbed by his own behavior he is--and he's sure he does--he doesn't say anything about it. But Merle knows. He knows that it's hard to sleep at night. He knows that most of everything seems pointless, that he'll probably be cast out at any moment, and that he probably should be. He knows that the Governor is gunning for him. But he goes on runs anyway, because what else does he have to do? Chat with Rick's people? Let the Governor have him. 

\--

The run goes fine. They don't collect too much, but they kill some dead-beats and don't get bit, so that's something. 

It's on the ride back that things get interesting. 

"You can't be lookin' at those girls like that. Andrea will have your balls if she sees you. Maggie will slit your throat. And Beth--"

Daryl pauses here as if he can't think of what the blonde would actually do, and this is what catches Merle's attention. 

"Her daddy would shoot you deader than a walker." 

Not very creative, he'll give him, but Merle gets the point. He wouldn't have tried anything anyway. But just to rouse his baby brother up a bit..

"Are you screwin' any of 'em?"

He's sure Daryl isn't. But he hasn't seen his brother's face heat up like it is now in a long time, and it somehow relaxes him some. 

"That's not the point. If you start anything with any of 'em, the whole camp will be after yer sorry hide, and I won't be able to stop it."

Merle wouldn't risk being separated from his brother just for a piece of tail. So he stays away from the younger one and the married one, and if he flirts with Andrea, well, it isn't his fault if she flirts back. 

\--

"Stop it, Beth! Act decent, like Daddy taught you!"

Beth's head jerks around to look at her older sister. She's purposely got an innocent look on her face, but she knows that Maggie isn't buying it. Going by Andrea and Carol's expressions, they aren't either. But at least they look amused. Maggie's had a bug up her ass since she woke up. It just makes Beth's coy smile grow. 

"What? I was just lookin'."

The men are out in the prison yard doing exercise routines. Her boyfriend is included in the lot, if she can bring herself to call him such a thing, but it isn't him she's eying--and Maggie knows it. Her sister has caught her eyes wondering to the older Dixon a few too many times for naivety. She chooses not to say anything in front of the others though, probably to spare herself some embarrassment; Merle definitely isn't the most sought after. She doesn't want to imagine what her daddy would say. 

But she can still look, right?


End file.
